Bird Face
by misskoifishpony
Summary: My take on how Tokoyami first met his shadow, or AKA, the story of how he first discovered his true quirk. Adorable Cover Art by DaniSeka on Deviantart.


**Author's Note: To my long time readers and new readers, I have recently discovered the anime that is "My Hero Academia" and I, like many others before me, love it ^^ I have yet to read the manga ( I know, sooo bad of me, I will hopefully get to it eventuallyXD) This is not my all time favorite anime (that goes to Ancient Magus Bride), but it is currently on the list of my favorite anime (with titles like School Rumble, Princess Tutu, etc.)**

 **My all time favorite character on this show, in case if you can't tell by now, is my Bird Son aka Tokoyami:) Question: does the BHA fandom call Tokoyami the nickname "Bird Son"? If they don't, shame on them cause they need to! :D He is such a precious, edgy, Bird Boy and I love him to no end:D Has anyone seen the english dub of Episode 13 of S3 today? I did, it was filled to the brim with glorious moments for my Bird Son!:D I swear, S3 is my favorite season due to how much love it has for my Bird Son!:D This episode also had a great moment for my daughter for this show, Su-Chan:) I also love Dad Might, I mean All Might, Midoriya, and Shojo (aka my Octopus Son:))**

 **Anyway, I want to dedicate my first My Hero Academia story to the creator of My Hero Academia, Kohei Horikoshi. I recently just heard the horrible news yesterday about how Mr. Kohei Horikoshi has been receiving death threats from fans all because of the decisions he has been making for the journey of a certain character named Endeavour. Can you believe that? Death threats...from your own fans? Or just...death threats in general all because of innocent decisions in your own writing? That is...that is just sick. And I have only heard nothing about good things about this guy.**

 **But luckily, there are amazing fans out there like Miraculous Cora Zone on Youtube who made a beautifully emotional video on the subject and calls BHA to actions. She challenges us to 1) send Horikoshi messages to twitter with words of support and the hashtag #PLUSULTRAforHorikoshi; and 2) if you are going to San Diego comic con, go up to Horikoshi and tell him just how much you appreciate him:) I'm passing my challenge all to you, you beautiful BHA fans who love this guy's work^^**

 **As to my personal message to Horikoshi, all that I can say is: Whether it's friends, family, fans, or even your own shadow, no one is alone Mr. Horikoshi. And there is always someone out there who loves you for all that you do and for who you are.**

 **(** _ **Italics= Current Age Tokoyami's POV**_ **)**

 _I remember...the time when I was alone…_

In the back of an elementary school yard, there was a group of four very young students. There were three little girls, and a young boy with a the face of a baby grey hawk. The young boy was huddled on the ground, hugging his knees to his chest as he sat against the wall of a dark in-between gap area between the main school building and the gym. He wore a very large black, red lined, zipped up hoodie and he hid his entire head and face into the hood of the hoodie. The hoodie also swerved a way to hide the tears streaming down his yellow beak and feathers. The boy's name was Fumikage Tokoyami.

 _I've never felt alone because I had you. I've always been with you for as long as I could stand and fight…_

The three little girls, dressed in the finest yet girliest clothes that their rich parents could buy, blocked the only exit out of the alleyway. The two girls in the back of the group, were quirkless humans with one having brown hair and the other with blonde hair. While their leader, the girl in the front, with a girl with light blue and pink striped hair and a golden unicorn horn in the middle of her forehead. The group of girls stared down at Tokoyami with such mischievous yet malicious glee. Especially, the girl claimed to be their leader.

"Aww, what's the matter Bird Face?" said the girl in front of the group in a taunting tone, "Don'tcha wanna come out and play?"

And after she made her taunt, she used her foot to push out some dirt into Tokoyami's face. Luckily, he used the sides of his hood to block it. However, this attack made Tokoyami cry even more.

"Yeah, c'mon Bird Face!" the brunette joined in the taunt, "Play with us!"

"Bird Face! Bird Face! Come out to play, with your boring quirk face!" chanted the blonde, joining in the bullying as well.

Then, the two girls in the back mimicked the actions of their leader and shoveled dirt toward Tokoyami's direction. This take, Tokoyami's hood couldn't protect him from all the dirt going towards his face. So, some of the dust got into his puffy eyes and he coughed as he accidentally swallowed in some of the dusty dirt air. Yet despite this, he smashed the palms of his small hands into the holes where his ears are and blocked all the voices of the girls beside him. He tried to restrain his sobbing pain, making him sniffle and almost choke on his own tears.

 _Do you remember that day? Do you remember that time before us? I do...and...everything was so...frightening then. Everything made me jump. Everything made my chest tight. Everything made my heart ache and sigh. Everything made me wanna cry._

"Daww, don't be like that Bird Face," the leader mocked evilly to Tokoyami, "after all, we're your friends. You should be happy to have friends like us. No one with hanging out with you before because of your boring quirk."

"What kind of person with a bird quirk doesn't even have any wings?!" the brunette adding in, sneering out a tone more mocking and demeaning than her the leader's tone.

"You're just a bird face!" the blonde happily commented in the end, feeling proud in her special little taunt.

"That's right, so if you don't want any of the other kids with cool quirks to not pick on you at recess, then listen to us. For now on." concluded the leader, with a devilish smirk on her round face.

Then, the leader's eyes widened when she saw Tokoyami to weakly escape and run into the dark and narrow path that he was sitting in earlier.

"Hey! Where do you think you're going Bird face?!" the leader demanded.

With pouty lip and temper in every step she took, she stomped over quickly to Tokoyami and stopped him by grabbing the back of his hoodie forcefully. Thus, pulling his hood completely down and revealing his head to the group of girls. Her minions quickly followed after her with cheeky grins on their faces.

Then, the leader of these snobby little girls used Tokoyami's hood to turn him around rapidly and face her. With an unsettling smile, she pushed Tokoyami to the ground and stared into his wide teary eyes. She, along with her crew, began to laugh and giggle at Tokoyami's expense as they closed in on him from all sides.

"P-Please," pleaded the young boy in a small, shy, and choked up voice, "stop…"

But his plead was only met with more malicious laughter and giggles from the small girls. When Tokoyami could see that the girls weren't going to listen to his wish, he blocked his eyes and his face with his forearms. Preparing himself for the impact of whatever cruelty they wish to inflict on them.

With her unicorn horn light up in a golden glow, she announced darkly to her group, "Let's teach this loser what happens when he doesn't listen to his friends."

But, before she could release her special attack, a sudden and fairly large shadowy figure appeared before them. It was coming from Tokoyami's stomach.

When the young boy with the bird quirk didn't hear any form of attack or malicious laughter from the girls, he began to slowly open his eyes and remove his arms away from his face. When he was able to fully take in his surroundings, his eyes widened at what was in front of him. It looked like to be ghost. A black, purplish ghost with a snake like body. It had giant, shadowy claws; and, the shape of its head was strangely like his. It looked like the fuzzy head of a chick. Except this thing wasn't cute like a chick. Far from it. It had giant, glowing, yellow eyes that had no pupils in them. It had a giant beak that could break open a car.

The leader of the group made her horn stop glowing, and she stared up at this new creature with great terror in her eyes. And so did the rest of the girls. They couldn't move, they couldn't breathe, they feared the worst as they witnessed this nightmare before them.

There was a brief moment of silence before the shadowy form roared and shrieked at them menacingly. Its cry was so loud and powerful that it made the ground in that alleyway shake a little. The group of girls screamed and ran as fast as they could out of the dark little pathway that they were trapped in.

The leader of the group exclaimed, "Ahhhh! A monster!"

The dark ghost like being floated and chased after the girls with an mischievous, diabolical, surprisingly child like chuckle. Tokoyami followed after this being with a fast walk, but still being shy, small, and cautious with each step he took. He couldn't look away from this thing that was, supposedly, coming out of him.

The dark spirit stopped once he and Tokoyami were able to reach the beginning and entrance to this dark in-between place of the two school buildings. The black and purple entity shouted with glee at the kids running away from him, and Tokoyami was surprised to discover that this thing had a young child's voice, "Ha ha! Take that you meanies! That'll teach ya!"

Tokoyami jumped a little when the shadowy mass turned around to face him. In a concerned tone, it asked, "Are you alright Tokoyami?"

"How..how do you know my name?"

"That was the name that your family and most people called you, so I figured that was your name."

Tokoyami jumped once more and let out a little shout when the being brought its huge bird-like face closely to his face. With a smile, it remarked, "It's so awesome to finally put a face with a voice and a name! Man, you couldn't believe how long I had to wait to meet you!"

"And...where did you have to wait for me exactly?"

"I don't know!"

"What do you mean you don't know?!"

"Well, I didn't know where I was at exactly. I mean, it was pretty dark where I was at. The only thing that I had to go by were the noises that you and other people made."

"Dark?" Then, young Tokoyami looked down at his stomach, "Did you...come from my tummy?"

"Ew gross! No! I didn't come from your tummy! If I did, there would be fun and stuff there. But, there wasn't!"

"Then, where did you…?"

Tokoyami then noticed how this creature had no shadow. No faint outline of darkness following him on the ground whatsoever. And this made Tokoyami wondered. So, he hesitantly looked over his shoulder and he was bewildered to find that his shadow was no longer there. Tokoyami let out a shocked gasp at this new discovery.

"What is it Toko-chan?" asked the nightly ghost figure.

"You're…" Then, he reverted his eyes back to his companion and uttered in disbelief, "You're my shadow."

"Oh? Is that my name? My shadow?" he asked happily, and with a bit of excitement in his sweet and innocent voice.

"Huh? Do you...do you not have a name?"

"Well no, not really. No one has ever called me anything before. So I never really had a name before till now."

"Oh, well, in that case, I didn't mean to name you 'My Shadow'. That's a terrible name. Hmmm, would you be alright with a name like 'Shadow'? I know it isn't the most creative name, but…"

"Are you kidding?! That's an awesome name!" Shadow cheered. Soon, he began to sing and chant joyfully, "I have a name! I have a name!"

Tokoyami giggle lightly at Shadow's excitement.

"Hey Toko-chan," Shadow then asked, "How come those girls kept calling you Bird Face?"

"Huh?"

Tokoyami's giggle soon ended, and the heavy yet dreaded feelings from earlier began to replay inside his head. "Oh um, well you see,...it's because...well,...well, no offense but, isn't it obvious?"

"Nuh-uh."

Tokoyami sighed a little before explaining reluctantly, "Well, they kept calling me Bird Face because...I have the head of a bird. The head of a young hawk to be precise."

"Yeah but," Shadow uttered in a sad yet confused tone, "why would you call by something that isn't your name? Your family and parents call you 'Tokoyami' or 'Toko-chan' or even 'Yami-kun' all the time. Your name sounds way better than Bird Face. Plus, you didn't like it when they called you that. So, why did you…?"

"It's because I have a boring, ugly, quirk, bird face! Okay?!" Tokoyami suddenly cried out, tears streaming down his beak and face once more.

Shadow's glowing yellow eyes drooped, and he made himself look smaller, as he watch Tokoyami snob into his hands and arms. He watched sadly as his friend try to wipe away all the tears from his eyes.

Gently, Shadow wrapped his long and dark form around Tokoyami and nuzzled into the side of his face. Once he started to nuzzle Tokoyami, the young boy took his face away from hands and his snobbing lessened by this sudden act of affection.

"I think your face is awesome Toko-chan," said Shadowing in a warm, sorrowful, yet comforting tone,

Tokoyami took in a breath, and his eyes widened. His beak began to sniffle a little.

"Your face isn't boring, ugly, and has a quirk." Shadow added sweetly yet firmly, "Whatever a quirk is."

Tokoyami sniffled a little before giggling softly at Shadow's confusion of what a quirk is. He place his left palm onto Shadow's cheek and whispered, "T-Thanks Shadow."

 _But now, I'm not afraid. Now, I'm going to be a hero. And it's all because you...my shadow…_

 **Author's Note: This one shot is because my round about way to explain my theory/headcanon on why Tokoyami doesn't hang out with the girls of Class A and only really with the boys of Class B. He probably does it because he's a 16 year old boy and boys at that age are too nervous to be around girls no matter what XD Oh well, here's another way to look at itXD Nothing says edgy Bird Boy like a sad childhood backstoryXD Oh Bird Son, forgive me for giving you such a sad storyXD Hmm, now that I think about it, this story could explain why he might have his little insecurities and worries about how people perceive him. Like how in the recent english dubbed episode, Tokoyami was insecure about his bedroom and all the things in it, even though everyone either loved it or didn't mind it. Anyway, hopefully this will encourage me to do more Tokoyami stories:) If you guys any Tokoyami fanfics out there, send them my way cause I seriously want to read them!:D**


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